The Rochester Planning Board on Tuesday night approved putting two articles deleting zoning bylaws on the May 22 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.
One will eliminate the temporary moratorium on permitting marijuana retail-sales operations, which is no longer needed because state regulations on such licensing have now been finalized and the town has already approved its first such business.
The other article will delete the Orderly Development bylaw. Town Planner Nancy Durfee explained later that this bylaw was created to control the rate of new homes being built in large housing developments such as Connet Woods. Now that Connet is near completion and no similar large housing projects are being proposed right now, the town wants to wait and see if it will ever need the measure again, she said.
The Planning Board also endorsed for placement on the Town Meeting Warrant a third zoning bylaw-amendment article that will correct a typographical error in the site-plan review section of the bylaw.
The brief meeting’s other highlight came when Durfee received the board’s endorsement of a letter seeking the Select Board’s support of a plan to study Snipatuit Pond.
Durfee explained that, with $20,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds received through SRPEDD (Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District), a flow gauge will be installed and two sink wells placed to determine the pond’s groundwater flow and levels.
The total cost of this assessment, she said, will be $30,000. She expects the remaining $10,000 to come from Covanta’s (the former SEMASS) community donation funds.
“We want to make sure the groundwater flow is there for future use,” Durfee explained. “A 1980s report on the pond is just crushing. Levels are changing. There’s no data to know what to do with this issue.”
The letter elaborates that the study will help the town better understand the groundwater and surface-flow dynamics between Snipatuit and Great Quitticas, “and what that means to watershed boundaries and groundwater supply. … The Planning Board supports this project and is confident the project will yield valuable results,” said Durfee.
In other action, the board appointed Durfee as its representative to SRPEDD.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 25, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco